65 video of Twin Towers, etc.: “The Fifth Estate: War Without Borders,” www.cbc.ca, AP, 7/17/02, CR, 530n145, AP, 7/17/02. The filming in the United States was done in 1997 by a Syrian living in Spain named Ghasoub al-Abrash Ghalyoun, who was arrested after 9/11. According to the Spanish Interior Ministry, “the style and duration of the recordings far exceed tourist curiosity.” Spanish investigators believed that an al Qaeda courier delivered copies of the tapes to Afghanistan (AP, 7/17/02, CR, 530n145, “The Fifth Estate: War Without Borders,” www.cbc.ca).
66 “to study”: KSM SUBST.
67 “individuals”: Statement of Eleanor Hill, 2/17/02, JI. The 9/11 Commission noted that there had been significant radical Islamic activity in Arizona prior to 9/11. The Islamic Center of Tucson was a branch of the Office of Services, long since established by bin Laden and Abdullah Azzam in Pakistan. It had begun distributing its journal throughout the United States as early as 1986. Two former FBI informants claimed after 9/11 that they had alerted the FBI to the presence of suspicious Arabs at Arizona flight schools in 1996 (Commission: CR, 226–, 520–; Center: Steven Emerson, American Jihad, NY: Free Press, 2002, 129–, Frontline: “The Man Who Knew,” www.pbs.org, NYT, 6/7/02; claim: WP, 9/23/01, 5/24/02, NYT, 5/24/02, FBI IG, Aukai Collins, My Jihad, Guilford, CT: Lyons, 2002, 213–).
68 “different person”/beard, etc.: “Hijackers Timeline [redacted],” FBI, 2/1/07, INTELWIRE, Report, JI, 135, Testimony of George Tenet, 6/18/02, JI, Graham with Nussbaum, 40–
69 Atta/27: Staff Statement 16, WSJ, 10/16/01, McDermott, 2–, 31 but see re Mecca twice 57
70 “colony”/“Resistance”: Fisk, The Great War, 21–.
Part V: PERPETRATORS
CHAPTER 23
1 Wiley: MFR 04017164, 11/25/03
2 “independent”: JI, Report, Appendix, 5
3 “flake”: Benjamin & Simon, 243
4 “terrorist financier”: Richard Clarke, 96, Tenet, xi
5 “Ford Foundation”: Benjamin & Simon, 242
6 not named: Executive Order 12947, 1/23/95, Federal Register, Vol. 60, No. 16, Staff Report, “Monograph on Terrorist Financing,” CO
7 9 speeches: Richard Clarke, 129–, e.g., “American Security in a Changing World,” speech, 8/5/96, U.S. Department of State, Dispatch, Vol. 7, No. 32, & see “Presidential Speech Archive,” www.millercenter.org
8 PDD-39/rendition/coordinated: “Memorandum for the Vice President et al. from William J. Clinton,” 6/21/95 [PDD-39], www.fas.org, Benjamin & Simon, 230, CR, 101
9 badgered: Richard Clarke, 135
10 “foaming”: Benjamin & Simon, 243
11 “It just seemed”: Clarke, 135
12 “asleep”: Hollingsworth with Mitchell, 101
13 approval of Lake: Bamford, Pretext, 205, int. Michael Scheuer for Paladin InVision
14 dozen/40: CR, 479n2
15 FBI liaison/“buzz saw”: Statement of George Tenet, 10/17/02, JI, FBI IG
16 focus/women/shopping complex/committed/zealot: Shenon, 188–, MFR 04020389, 6/21/04, CR, 109
17 CTC-TFL: Staff Report, “Monograph on Terrorist Financing,” CO
18 more operational: MFR 04017164, 11/25/03
19 changed name: Tenet, 100
20 “My God”/“truly dangerous”: Shenon, 189
21 “civilians and military”: int. of OBL for ABC News, transcript available at Frontline: “Hunting bin Laden,” www.pbs.org
22 “They chose”: int. of OBL for CNN, 3/97, www.cnn.com
23 “If they”: Bergen, OBL I Know, 242
24 “snatch”: Richard Clarke, 149
25 surveillance/human intelligence: Farmer, 29
26 eavesdropping/phone: Bamford, Pretext, 162–, Gunaratna, 12, WP, 4/24/01
27 training camp: CR, 111
28 CIA plan/“half-assed”/“perfect”: Tenet, 112–, Wright, 265–, Michael Scheuer, Marching Toward Hell, New York: Free Press, 2008, 272n3, CR, 111–, Richard Clarke, 149
29 memo: Scheuer, Marching Toward Hell, 271
30 “They could not”: Shenon, 190
31 Nairobi bomb/casualties: Report of Accountability Review Boards, Bombings of the US Embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on Aug. 7, 1998, U.S. Dept. of State, www.fas.org, Wright, 270, Corbin, 73
32 Dar es Salaam: Report of Accountability Review Boards, The Independent (U.K.), 8/8/98
33 worst: Unger, House of Bush, House of Saud, 183, Robert Johnston, “Worst Terrorist Attacks—Woldwide,” www.johnstonarchive.net
34 bomber/met OBL/for OBL: Testimony of Stephen Gaudin, U.S. v. Usama Bin Laden et al., U.S. District Court for the Southern District of NY, S(7) 98-CR-1023, 1/8/01, Bergen, Holy War Inc., 107, Corbin, 71, Criminal Complaint Against Mohamed Rashed Al-’Owhali, U.S. Federal Court for the Southern District of NY, 8/26/98, http://avalon.law.yale.edu, Reeve, 198–
35 bomber/OBL calls: Gaudin testimony, JI, Report, 129–, Wright, 276–.
36 “I did”/Odeh/“my leader”: Bergen, Holy War Inc., 53, 113, Reeve, 201. The four men convicted for their roles in the Kenya and Tanzania bombings were Mohamed al-’Owhali, Mohamed Odeh—the two terrorists referred to in the text—Khalfan Mohamed, and bin Laden’s former secretary Wadih al-Hage. They were convicted in May 2001. A fifth man, Ahmed Ghailani, who had been charged on a total of 285 counts, was in 2010 acquitted of multiple murder and attempted murder charges. Though found guilty only of conspiracy to damage U.S. property, he was handed a life sentence (4 men: AP, 11/24/08; Ghailani: BBC, 1/25/2011).
37 “excited and happy”: bin Ladens & Sasson, 237
38 “juice”: int. of Abdulrahman Khadr, Frontline: “Son of al Qaeda,” www.pbs.org, “Al Qaeda Family: The Black Sheep,” 3/3/04, www.cbc.ca
39 “Only God”/“real men”/“Our job”: int. of OBL for ABC News, 12/23/98 available at http://pws.prserv.net, Time, 1/11/99
40 “the greatest”: int. of OBL for Al Jazeera, 12/98, http://wasarch.ucr.edu
41 “respond”: MFR 04021459, 1/29/04
42 opportunity/attack: Tenet, 115–, Miller & Stone, 210–, Clinton, 803–, Burke, 52
43 Security tight: MFR 04021469, 12/19/03, Richard Clarke, 187
44 told Pakistan/Ralston: Clinton, 799, Richard Clarke, 186–
45 “Our target”: text of President Clinton’s address, CBS News, 8/20/98.
46 circumlocution: CR, 113–, 126–, 484n101, Executive Order 12333, United States Intelligence Activities, 12/4/81. National Security Adviser Sandy Berger, who had succeeded Lake, would tell the 9/11 Commission that the intention of the missile strikes had been “to be bouncing bin Laden into the rubble.” Under Secretary for Political Affairs Thomas Pickering told commission staff the primary objective had been “to kill bin Laden and other senior leaders he was meeting with” (Berger: testimony of Sandy Berger, 3/34/04, CO; Pickering: MFR 04013744, 12/22/03, CF).
47 “intently focused”: Clinton, 798.
48 some fatalities: CR, 117, bin Ladens & Sasson, 240–, Bergen, Holy War Inc., 121–, int. of OBL for ABC News, 12/23/98. National Security Adviser Berger told the 9/11 Commission that “20–30 people in the camps” were killed. Interviewed in late 1998, bin Laden acknowledged that seven “brothers” were killed and “20-something Afghans.” In addition, according to Bruce Lawrence, editor of bin Laden’s public statements, seven Pakistanis also died (CR, 117, 482n46, int. of OBL by Rahimullah Yusufzai, 12/23/98, ABC News online, www.cryptome.org, ed. Lawrence, 83fn)
49 factory destroyed/intelligence shaky: Reeve, 202, Tenet, 117, CR, 118, Stephen Hayes, “The Connection,” 6/7/04, www.weeklystandard.com
50 $750,000: Bamford, Pretext, 209
51 $10,000: CR, 498n127
52 propaganda victory/T-shirts: Hamel, 216, WP, 10/3/01
53 “a highly”: bin Ladens & Sasson, 238.
54 “He had been”: MFR 03013620, 12/12/03, CR, 117. Bin Laden himself appe
ared to confirm as much a month later when he told Al Jazeera: “I was hundreds of kilometers away from there. As for the information that was supposed to have reached us, we found a sympathetic and generous people in Pakistan who exceeded all our expectations, and we received information from our beloved ones and helpers of jihad for the sake of God against the Americans.” Omar bin Laden’s recent account seems more worthy of credence than the story told by one of his father’s former bodyguards, Abu Jandal. According to Jandal, only a whimsical change of mind led bin Laden to change his plans and head for Kabul instead of the targeted camp (“I was hundreds”: ed. Lawrence, 7; whimsical: Nasser al-Bahri with Georges Malbrunot, Dans l’ombre de Ben Laden, Neuilly-sur-Seine, France: Michel Lafon, 2010, 149–, transcript, CNN Presents: In the Footsteps of bin Laden, 8/23/06).
55 “In 1996”: JI, Report, 217
56 “conspiracy”: ibid., 129, Statement of Mary Jo White, 10/2/02, JI, Report
57 200-page/$5 million: Indictment, U.S. v. Usama bin Laden et al., U.S. District Court for the Southern District of NY, 98 CR, 11/4/1998, WP, 11/5/98
58 $25 million/double: Kenneth Katzman, “Terrorism: Near Eastern Groups and State Sponsors, 2002,” Congressional Research Service, Washington, D.C., 2/13/02, BBC News, 7/13/07 “Tier 0”: JI, Report, 40
59 “We are”: CR, 357, JI, Report, 124.
60 “lethal force”: CR, 131–, 485n123, Shenon, 357. Clinton, Berger, and others told the 9/11 Commission that the president’s intent was clear—he wanted bin Laden dead. According to Tenet, however: “Almost all the ‘authorities’ [presidential authorizations] provided to us with regard to bin Laden were predicated on the planning of a capture operation.” Other senior officials agreed with this interpretation. Attorney General Janet Reno, Tenet wrote later, “made it clear … that she would view an attempt simply to kill bin Laden as illegal” (intent: CR, 133; Tenet: Tenet, 111–, “Director’s Statement on the Release of the 9/11 IG Report Executive Summary,” 8/21/07, www.cia.gov; Reno: CR, 132–).
61 operations against: Executive Summary, “Report on CIA Accountability with Respect to the 9/11 Attacks,” 6/05, CR, 132–, 142
62 “Policy makers”: Tenet, 123.
63 “two chances”: Scheuer, Marching Toward Hell, 61. The Scheuer reference relates to the period between May 1998 and May 1999. A 9/11 Commission staff report noted only three occasions in that time frame on which strikes were considered. In December 1998, when there was intelligence indicating that bin Laden was at a location near Kandahar, an operation was called off—according to Tenet—because of doubt as to whether the information was good and the risk of killing people in a nearby mosque. In February 1999, bin Laden was firmly believed to be at a location in the desert in Helmand province. U.S. officials vacillated, however, because members of the government of the United Arab Emirates were hunting nearby. The opportunity passed. Another strike was considered in May 1999, but scrubbed because some doubted the reliability of the source. In July that year, President Clinton authorized the CIA to work with Pakistani and Uzbek operatives to capture bin Laden. It is not clear what stage that project reached (Staff Statement 6, CO, CR, 130–, 485n116–488n194, & see Scheuer, Marching Toward Hell, 284n8, 285n15).
64 “Tenet consistently”: WP, 4/29/07.
65 “cared little”/“moral cowardice”: Scheuer, Marching Toward Hell, 48, 75, 82, 84, 85, 290. Scheuer was closely informed on everything to do with the pursuit of bin Laden until some point in 1999. Sometime after the aborted strike in February 1999 (see previous note), however, he was removed as head of Alec Station—after a clash with an FBI manager assigned to the unit. Much of Scheuer’s 2008 book comes over as a furious venting of his feelings (Wright, 291–, Shenon, 188, Scheuer, Marching Toward Hell, refs.).
66 “pathetically”: Clarke, 204
67 “authorized”: int. of Bill Clinton by Fox News, 9/24/06
68 “kill authority”: Shenon, 357–
69 “attacks”: CR, 120
70 “My father”: bin Ladens & Sasson, 239
71 went to ground: ibid.
72 stopped using phone: Mail on Sunday (U.K.), 12/23/01, Kessler, 84–, Corbin, 88, JI, Report, 69
73 “wished to send”: Atwan, 55–.
74 “But things”: Gaudin testimony. The bomber arrested after running away was Mohamed al-’Owhali (see above). The accomplice he named was Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah (aka Saleh), who is still at large. FBI agent Stephen Gaudin, who questioned him in Nairobi, cited the passage quoted in federal court (Testimony of Stephen Gaudin, U.S. v. Usama Bin Laden et al., U.S. District Court for the Southern District of NY, S[7] 98-CR-1023, 1/8/01).
75 summoned/“could work”: KSM SUBST, Terry McDermott & Josh Meyer, The Hunt for KSM, NY: Little, Brown, 2012, 137. KSM provided “inconsistent information” as to whether bin Laden approved the operation in late 1998 or in early 1999, according to CIA accounts of his various interrogation sessions (CR, 492n38)
76 Kenya/alias: JI, Report, 313.
77 decoy: Financial Times, 2/14/03. Another report, however, has it that—as of that same month—KSM was working as an “escort” for his longtime mentor Sheikh Abdul Sayyaf, leader of Ittehad-e-Islami, the Islamic Union Party (NY to Bangkok et al., FBI265A-NY-253802, 7/8/09, INTELWIRE, CR, 146–)
78 persuaded: CR, 149, 490n16.
79 “full support”/Atef: KSM SUBST, CR, 154. Al Qaeda suspects questioned in Jordan were to allege that Atef seized on the concept following the 1999 EgyptAir crash off the coast of Massachusetts, which was never satisfactorily explained. The NTSB found that the crash probably occurred “as a result of the relief first officer’s flight control inputs. The reason for the relief first officer’s actions was not determined.” The first officer’s exclamation was initially interpreted as “I place my fate in the hands of God,” and later revised to “I rely on God.” EgyptAir and Egypt’s Civil Aviation Authority advised that the statement was “very often used by the Egyptian layman in day to day activities to ask God’s assistance for the task at hand.” The officer uttered the exclamation nine times while alone, twice more after the captain returned to the cockpit. Two hundred and seventeen people died in the crash (Aircraft Accident Brief, EgyptAir 990, NTSB, 3/13/02, www.ntsb.gov).
80 influenced: WP, 9/11/02.
81 targeting/operatives: KSM SUBST, CR, 154. The plan was adjusted according to the number of suitable operatives available. It would turn out early on that only two of four men originally selected to be pilot hijackers were able to obtain U.S. visas. The two who had no visas, it was then hoped, would explode planes in midair over Asia at the same time their accomplices were hitting targets in the United States. Thinking it too difficult to synchronize the operation, bin Laden would later cancel the Asia part of the operation (KSM SUBST)
82 “military committee”: Fouda & Fielding, 158
83 two years: KSM SUBST
84 “planes operation”: CR, 154
85 Omar disillusioned: bin Ladens & Sasson, 201, 212–, 218–, 248–
86 “I have heard”: ibid., 254
87 “gigantic”: ibid., 277.
88 Noonan/“History”: Forbes, 11/30/98.
CHAPTER 24
1 “The mighty”/curbed: bin Ladens & Sasson, 244, Bergen, OBL I Know, 321, 455n20
2 candidates/two parts/too complicated: KSM SUBST
3 Yemenis’ visas/in vain: Staff Report, “9/11 and Terrorist Travel,” CO, 13–. The Yemenis were Walid bin Attash—also known as Khallad—who had lost a leg on the Afghan battlefield, and Abu Bara al-Tai’zi, on whom there appears to be scant information. Bin Laden had known Attash in Saudi Arabia. He was to play a role at later points in the story (KSM SUBST, CR 155–)
4 two Saudis/aged 24/23: National Drug Intelligence Center for the FBI, “265D-NY-280350, TWINBOM-PENTTBOM, Biographical Report,” 11/26/01, authors’ collection, Blair Oakley to Janice Kephart, 3/23/04, “Hijacker Primary Documents—AA77,” B50, T5, CF
5 friends: Testimony of George
Tenet, 6/18/02, JI, Bamford, Shadow Factory, 9
6 well-to-do/married Yemeni/veterans: ibid., 9, Staff Statement 16, CO, Report, JI, 131, Wright, 309–. Mihdhar’s relations by marriage were the Hada family in Yemen’s capital, Sana’a—their connection to terrorism will be reported later. The future 9/11 conspirator to whom Mihdhar was linked by marriage was Ramzi Binalshibh, one of the Germany-based accomplices (marriage: Bamford, Shadow Factory, 7–, McDermott, 183 & see AP, 12/23/07; Binalshibh: WP, 9/11/02)
7 “Jihad Ali”/Inspired: KSM SUBST, Testimony of Stephen Gaudin, U.S. v. Usama Bin Laden et al.
8 Saudi visas easy: Staff Report, “9/11 and Terrorist Travel,” CO, 14–, 116–
9 had sworn: JI, Report, 131–, Testimony of George Tenet, JI, 6/18/02
10 “I swear”/“hijrah”: KSM SUBST. In its literal sense, the word hijrah or hegira refers to the Prophet’s move from Mecca to what is now Medina in A.D. 622—the first year of the Muslim era. It has thus come to be synonymous with migration. In the context used here it appears to denote a spiritual “migration” or transformation of the self (corr. Hans Kippenberg, 2010)
11 “the joys”/“My father”: bin Ladens & Sasson, 262–
12 candidates in Gulf: KSM SUBST
13 Italy: McDermott, 209, 299n65. The source cited on the reported KSM visit to Italy is a senior Italian investigator
14 Germany: Leading U.S. news sources have cited “intelligence reports” indicating that KSM visited Hamburg in 1999. “We have indications from various sources,” Walter Wellinghausen, a senior official of the Hamburg Interior Ministry, told The New York Times, “that [KSM] was in Hamburg for a period, but we have not been able to definitively verify this” (Newsweek, 9/9/02, NYT, 11/4/02, WP, 9/11/02).
15 Atta: Texas Service Center, 911 Terrorist Review, “Hijacker Primary Documents—AA11,” B51, T5, CF, McDermott, 10
16 friends: int. Mounir Motassadeq
The Eleventh Day: The Full Story of 9/11 and Osama bin Laden Page 65
